Allissa Aardema (12) wrote and published her own book her sophomore year. Her book is a science-fiction novel called When All Else Crumbles.

“[My book] is kind of like a sci-fi futuristic type [of] book about a girl and her younger brother. [In the novel], genetic engineering has become possible,” Aardema said.

Writing has always been a hobby for Aardema so that was why she wrote her book.

“I’ve always loved reading and writing ever since I was little. I always did one or the other in my spare time,” Aardema said.

Aardema also had a lot of inspiration to write her book and publish it on her own.

“I met a senior my sophomore year and she wrote her own book too during her junior or senior year. She read my stories and told me I sounded like I could bring all my ideas together in one big story. She motivated me to start writing my first book and from there it was all easy,” Aardema said.

Her inspiration encouraged Aardema to not only write a novel, but to also self-publish it.

“She showed me this website to publish [my book] on my own and help it get out there. [The website] is called National Novel Writing Month. It has you write about 1,500 words a day, which worked well because I was able to see my progress as I was writing. People can [order my book] on Amazon now,” Aardema said.

When All Else Crumbles only took Aardema a little less than month to write.

“It only took me a month to write it. That sounds like a short amount of time, but the website helped me a lot.

Aardema also goes back and publishes re-edited editions of her book regularly.

“Sometimes I open the original copy and I’ll cringe a little bit. That’s why I publish new versions of it, which is one of the joys of being a self-publisher,” Aardema said.

After writing her book, Aardema self-reflects on her accomplishments.

“[Writing my book] is something I’m proud to say that I did. I even put it in my college applications,” Aardema said.